NEWS
The Battalion I 2.2.15
Prof explores art through music, science
The Battalion rpnnrtpr Amanda to come and play a part of it as
The Battalion reporter Amanda
Talbot sits down with visualization
and multimedia professor Sherman
Finch, who has an interactive art
piece on display at post-studio
projects in downtown Houston. The
piece will be on display until after a
reception at 6p.m. Feb. 7.
THE BATTALION: How would
you describe your "Sym
phonic Infinitum" piece in
Houston?
FINCH: The work is just, it's like
an assemblage kind of hybrid
artwork that basically is kind
of seeking to explore what we
know, perceptually visualize and
then what we perceptually hear.
Basically it kind of stems from a
passion that I've had for a long
time of sound and especially
also of an affection that I've
had for artists like John Cage.
Even the body of work actually
kind of comes from a statement
that John Cage said, which is
basically if you develop an ear
for sounds that are musical it is
likely that you're going to start
to develop a kind of preconcep
tion or an ego and in doing so
you start to refuse the sounds
that are not musical and then
cut yourself off from these
different experiences that you
can have in the world, and I find
that fascinating. It kind of takes
me back to those days of when
you’re a young kid running down
the street with a stick and, you
know, letting it basically go off
the fence posts and hear that
rattling that starts to happen.
This kind of seeks to explore
that, but also gets into it from
not just a visual idea but also
touches on a lot of conceptual
art and the way that we look
at conceptual art and the way
we interact with conceptual art.
Also kind of invites the viewer
and play a part of it as
well. So they can kind of walk
to these pieces and basically
spin them and they range from
basically simple interactions and
then kind of build up to this very
immersive experience that can
happen.
THE BATTALION: Do you
typically create pieces that
require physical participation
on the viewer's part, or is this
new for you?
FINCH: I woulcAay that there
are parts of this work that are
definitely new for me, that even
a little bit of the process which I
kind of call a fabrication process,
but I am not a newcomer to this
type of work — this is work that
grew out of an affection that I
had toward sound and I'm also
a musician, maybe I should say
frustrated musician. But I had
much more of an affinity toward
art and a lot more success in
that area. So this great desire
to want to put these two things
together has kind of become
that mother of necessity or
something like that. I've been,
throughout my body of artwork,
have been doing things like this.
I have been experimenting with
getting the viewer to participate.
THE BATTALION: What do
you mean by fabrication
process?
FINCH:Thefabrication process
is basically kind of like bringing
in industrial ideas and engineer
ing ideas and that kind of falls
outside of my realm of exper
tise, so in a way even though
the vision of the work is coming
from one person, I've been col
laborating with certain individu
als so that I could get certain
aspects of the pieces created.
I've worked with a lot of fabrica
Sherman Finch's piece will be on display until Feb. 7.
tion labs in helping to develop
this work, but then after every
thing being put together, the
painting and the designing of it
is all coming from me. There's
working with the different types
of fab labs that I've had the
opportunity to work with, which
has been great. One of the fab
labs being the digital fab lab and
Chris Polk. And there's another
one that’s downtown, which is
the TXR and there's another one
in Alfred in upstate New York.
THE BATTALION: What do
you hope to accomplish
through visitor participation?
FINCH: What I hope to ac
complish is just to engage
the viewer, see them interact
with the work and get to kind
of see how they, you know,
explore these new ideas, these
new experiences. Really it's a
lot about exploration. I get to
kind of view human nature in a
way. You know what happens
when they're confronted with
something that's very simple in
nature and very simple in form
and yet it's mechanics. Watch
them witness the mechanics
of it. I get the joy out of seeing
people play. I myself, obviously,
that's where I'm putting myself.
I am even really curious to how
people are going to react to the
work and I have been bringing
people to the studio to kind
of see how they react. And
there's all these different reac
tions. Some people get really
floored by their work or they
run away — it's just too much
for them. You hope that people
get a specific walk away from
the work, but I feel like I have
my intentions of why I made
the work even for myself, you
know, my love of both art and
both science and technology
and that interplay there and kind
of being really able to kind of
step outside of what I see as
the normal way of building ait
and I'm trying to really explore
that and I want to share that.
But that doesn't mean that ev
erybody is going to accept your
point of view, but it's not going
to stop me from exploring it. I'm
just fascinated by it. I want to
keep on going.
THE BATTALION: Is explora
tion your goal of this piece?
FINCH: Yeah, it's a lot about
exploration. Where are we?
How can the mind perceive or
catch movement and then from
there where does the mind pick
up on sounds that are happen
ing? And in this work there
are sounds that are happening
both acoustically and then there
are sounds that are happening
digitally and that's kind of like a
little secret that we're keeping
from people — away from the
viewer. Because there are elec
tronics that are in the back that
are also playing an interesting
role in the work itself by sensing
and monitoring when the ball is
knocked into themselves and
then sending signals in different
places to different speakers.
BLACK HISTORY
CONTINUED
Annie Williams, director
of service and outreach for
the Black Student Alliance
Council, said it’s important
to study history — black his
tory included — because it is
essential to know how society
got where it is today.
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“Black history is Ameri
can history,” Williams said.
“It’s important to know how
we got to where we are, to
know who got us here so we
can continue to work for the
future.”
BSAC President Chel
sea Jones said it would be
nice to see events continued
throughout the year, not just
in Febmary.
“It’d be nice to see black
history continue after the
month of February,” Jones
said. “I feel like I lose some
of my spark after the month
ends. I think we should try to
keep it going throughout the
whole year.”
Jones said the BSAC will
hold events throughout the
week, including a surprise
kick-off event at noon Mon
day in Rudder Plaza.
Other events the BSAC
will host throughout this
week include a black cinema
night and a symposium titled
“State of the Black Aggie.”
Michelle Gunter, president
of the Texas A&M Black Law
Student Association, said the
BLSA would also host events
at the law school throughout
the week, kicking off with
a day of silence Monday in
honor of victims of police
violence. . (
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